Cable car lacking transparency

THE Government insists its handling of the cable car proposal is transparent and proven, if only the same could be said of the Mt Wellington Cableway Company.

Pictures on their website pretending to be of community consultation that turn out to be a 2014 meeting of Residents Opposed to Cable Cars. Not a good look.

Claiming engagement with the South Hobart Progress Association that has never occurred. Tricky.

No contact with Hobart City Council since 2014, does not sound too clever.

Asked by the State Government in 2016 to keep media activity minimal, secretive.

Promotional video made at the summit without Wellington Park Management Trust approval. Risky.

Surveying above Old Farm Road with no prior permission. Arrogant.

A 30m tower on the edge of the iconic Organ Pipes. Crass.

Still no plans lodged, but support from a Liberal Party that cannot provide any detail on the proposal. K. Roberts South Hobart

Lots want cable car

THE inconsistency of arguments against the cable car is mind-boggling. The mountain is a “pristine” wilderness, well except for roads, huts, walking tracks, carparks and shipping containers, not to mention the oh so very obvious missile silo. The cable car will be uneconomic. Why then the protest against traffic jams on Davey St and “a million visitors” on the mountain. The “scar” of a cable car will destroy the view of the mountain, frightening away wildlife. No it won’t, witness Table Mountain and the plethora of cable cars and lifts through Europe in mountains that dwarf kunanyi/Mt Wellington for grandeur. Some of us don’t want it, particularly South Hobart residents. But drop the royal “we” please. A lot do. Brett Allender Sandy Bay

Hickey’s hubris

OH please, spare me from this claptrap that Sue Hickey has acted to “save democracy” motivated altruistically by some higher calling. This is an action fuelled by hubris and opportunism.

What most amazes me is not that Hickey acted in self-interest, but that there was no plan B when she did. The Liberals walked in that chamber with 13 votes. Labor and the Greens had 12. Any member of the Government (apart, it would seem, from Rene Hidding) could have done the Hickey deal for themselves. The only action needed would be make a secret phone call, accept the nomination, and vote for oneselfself. Heck, it’s the perfect murder. No one on your own side needs to know until the dagger is between the shoulder blades.

Why did the Liberal leadership sit, stony-faced, as if there was no alternative to letting it happen? This inaction guaran- teed a disciplined vote of 13-12 in favour of Hickey. But what if they had acted immediately to nominate a Labor backbencher, or Green, Rosalie Woodruff. In that case there could have been three or more candidates in the mix, and that may have radically changed the mathematics. How’s that for saving democracy? Scott Davies Hobart

Better than most

SOME people state in their letters that Sue Hickey just scraped into Parliament, but 18 of the 25 elected members did not get a quota in their own right. In fact, three current ministers received less votes than Hickey. Now that’s scraping the barrel.

Phone manners

I WONDER how many readers are receiving telephone calls from someone saying they are from Telstra’s technical department. I have had nine in past fortnight. They say they have discovered something wrong with my computer and they want to fix it. I know it is a scam, so I have some fun by telling them that I do not have a computer. They then ask: “Do you have laptop?” I reply, saying: “No, we do not have a lapdog, we have a cat.” At this point they usually hang up. Maurice Ducker Mount Stuart

Track too busy

I HAVE just written to Hobart City Council about the dangerous mix of bike and pedestrian traffic along the rivulet, particularly at peak times. It is always busy with walkers with dogs, runners, people with walkers, mothers with pushers and now the tourists walking up to the Female Factory. If one of your journalists filmed the mix on the way to or from work, I think you would be horrified. We desperately need a separate bike track. South Hobart is getting busier and busier. Thanks for the opportunity to draw this matter to your attention. Irene Fisher South Hobart

Crackdown over the top

POLICE claim there are 259 Tasmanian bikie gang members. They welcome new laws preventing gang members associating together and from publicly wearing club colours. Similar laws exist in NSW and Queensland, causing concern over Tasmania becoming a bikie haven if it does not follow suit.

Police have not publicly reported on the extent of criminal activity in Tasmanian “bikie gangs”. Further, the Minister will decide what gangs attract these laws. These laws equally impact non-criminal bikies. Laws like these are dangerous. Reasonable bikies will dissipate to avoid the hassle, leaving an embittered hard core. Motivated by existing criminal activity, misguided allegiance or by anger over state persecution, this core may resist violently, placing police and the public at risk. To get rid of a gang, why not legislate so evidence of its criminality can be properly tested by a court and give that court the power to ban it. Jonathan Mathys Blackmans Bay